Your account, what is free, and what the Song Cage licence unlocks. Create an account with email, Google or Apple and write your first song for free. The desktop app and the plugin give you 14 days of everything the licence includes before you buy.
What you'll learn
- How to create an account and sign in
- What Free includes
- What the Song Cage licence unlocks
- How the 14-day trial works, and where it starts
- How to buy the licence
- Where to find your account details in the app
- How your songs are stored and synced
The previous chapter covered collaboration: sharing songs, roles, and sync. This chapter is about the account that holds it all together. Your account is what connects your songs, gates the features available to you, and carries your licence once you buy it.
17.1 Creating an account
Song Cage offers three ways to create an account:
Email and password
On the sign-up page, enter your email address, click Continue with email, then choose a password (minimum 8 characters). You'll confirm the password, and the account is created. No email verification step blocks you from using the app immediately: you go straight in, and Song Cage emails you a link to confirm the address. Until you click it, a Confirm your email strip at the top of the app reminds you, with Resend link in case the email went missing.
Click Continue with Google on the sign-in or sign-up page. Song Cage redirects to Google's authentication page (a full-page redirect, not a popup). After you authorize, you're redirected back and signed in. If you don't have an account yet, one is created automatically using your Google email.
Apple
Click Continue with Apple on the sign-in or sign-up page. It works the same way as Google: you sign in with your Apple Account, come back signed in, and an account is created the first time. The button is on the web, in the iPhone app, and on the browser page the desktop app and the plugin use for signing in. The Android app doesn't offer it.
All three methods result in the same kind of account. You can sign in with whichever method you used to create it.
17.2 Signing in
The sign-in page shows Continue with Apple and Continue with Google buttons above an email/password form. Below the form, links take you to password reset and sign-up. The desktop app and the plugin can sign you in through a Song Cage page in your browser; see The Desktop App and The Plugin.
If you've forgotten your password, click Reset password. Enter your email address, and Song Cage sends a recovery link. Click the link in the email, set a new password, and you're back in.
17.3 Free and the licence
There is one free way to use Song Cage, and one purchase, the Song Cage licence, which unlocks everything else. The only free trial starts in the desktop app, the plugin or the iPad app.
Free
Free needs no card. It covers:
- The iPhone and Android capture apps. Free forever, and they work without an account. See The Mobile App.
- The web app, for one song. The same goes for the full editor on an iPad. Every writing tool but Melody Ideas works on that song: the full chord palette, voicings, the modulation panel, all Word Tools, audio recording, and playback.
- Song file export. Save the song as a
.songcage.jsonfile that Song Cage can open again (Chapter 14). - View-only share links. Let someone open and play your song without changing it (Chapter 16).
What Free does not include: a second song, PDF chord sheet export, MIDI export, Melody Ideas, phone captures in your Ideas Inbox, inviting collaborators, and the desktop app and plugin. Those come with the licence, and with the 14-day trial while it runs. No song is ever deleted.
The Song Cage licence
The licence (current price) unlocks:
- The desktop app (The Desktop App), on macOS and Windows, with your songs synced to the web app.
- The Song Cage plugin (The Plugin): Audio Unit and VST3 on Mac, VST3 on Windows.
- The full web app. Unlimited songs, PDF chord sheet export, and MIDI export (Chapter 14).
- Melody Ideas. New lines made from your own melody, each kept as a version of the section (Chapter 10).
- Phone captures in your Ideas Inbox. What you capture in the iPhone and Android apps lands in the Ideas Inbox of the web app, the desktop app and the plugin (Chapter 15).
- Inviting collaborators. Email invitations, editor links, and up to 5 editors per song (Chapter 16).
The desktop app and the plugin run offline, with free updates throughout the v1.x series. There is no separate plugin price: the one purchase covers both.
The 14-day trial
The only free trial starts in the desktop app or the plugin, or in the iPad app. Install the desktop app or the plugin and sign in once, or tap Start the free 14-day trial in the iPad app: that starts 14 days of everything the licence includes, with no card required. The trial belongs to your account, so every one of them shares one 14-day window, and reinstalling does not restart it. On a Mac or Windows computer there is also one trial per computer: a new account signed in to the desktop app or the plugin on a computer that has already run the trial picks up that trial instead of starting a fresh 14 days. While it runs, the trial covers the web app on your account too, and on a Mac or Windows computer a strip at the top of the web app counts down the days left.
The web app can't start the trial itself: its Try it free for 14 days link takes you to the desktop download page. Outside the trial, the web app is free for one song, and the licence unlocks the rest.
17.4 Pricing
Free costs nothing. The shop shows the licence's current price next to Melody Rack, which is a separate plugin with its own price. The table in 17.8 compares Free and the licence feature by feature, and the FAQ on the homepage answers the common pricing questions.
There are no hidden fees, no usage-based charges, and no overage costs.
17.5 Buying the licence
Buy the licence from the shop or the homepage, or from inside Song Cage:
- In the web app, use Buy the licence in the strip at the top of the window, or Get the Song Cage licence in the user menu (17.6). Both open the licence offer without leaving the app.
- In the desktop app, use the buy button in the trial banner, Get the Song Cage licence in the user menu, or the lock screen once the trial is over.
- In the plugin, use the buy button in the trial banner, Get the Song Cage licence at the bottom of the File menu, or the lock screen once the trial is over.
- In the iPad app (from version 1.8.20), use the strip at the top of the editor or Get the Song Cage licence in the user menu. The iPad sells the licence through the App Store, at the App Store's price for your country, and Restore purchases in the same panel brings it back on a new iPad.
The buy buttons on the site take you to Song Cage to sign in or create an account, then straight on to checkout. That works from a phone's browser too. The iPhone and Android apps themselves sell nothing.
Checkout runs through Stripe, or through PayPal if you choose it. Song Cage does not store your card number or payment details.
The licence belongs to your Song Cage account. Sign in with that account in the desktop app, the plugin, the web app or the iPad app, and the licence applies there.
If it turns out not to be for you, email us within 30 days of purchase for a full refund. A licence bought in the iPad app is refunded by Apple instead, through reportaproblem.apple.com. A refund revokes access to the desktop app and the plugin; songs already written stay on your computer.
17.6 The user menu
Your account details live in the user menu at the top-right of the toolbar. Click the circular avatar (showing your initial) to open the menu. At the top it shows your name or email and what you have: Song Cage licence, Free trial, or Free. Below that:
- Get the Song Cage licence, if you don't own it yet (not in the iPhone or Android apps)
- Get the desktop app (web app only) and Get the DAW plugin (web and desktop apps)
- Rate Song Cage (iPhone, iPad and Android apps)
- In the iPhone and Android apps, the light/dark theme toggle and Report a bug. In the web app, the desktop app and on an iPad, the theme is View > Dark Theme in the menu bar, and bug reports are under Help
- Delete account, which asks you to type DELETE before it erases your account and everything in it
- Sign out
The plugin has no user menu; the bottom of its File menu holds the same essentials (Chapter 20).
17.7 Data and sync
Song Cage is built to work offline first. Your songs are stored locally (in your browser or the desktop app) and synced to the cloud in the background while you're signed in. This means:
- You can work offline. Changes save locally and sync when you're back online.
- Your songs follow your account. Sign in on a different device and your songs sync down automatically. The desktop app syncs the same way, since it runs on the licence or the trial.
- The plugin works differently. It keeps each song inside your DAW project. Its Song menu opens songs from your account, and its File menu sends a song back only when you ask (see The Plugin).
- Sync is automatic. You don't need to save manually or trigger a sync. Changes propagate within a few seconds when you're online.
If you sign out and sign back in on the same device, your local data is still there. Signing in on a new device pulls your songs from the cloud.
17.8 Feature summary
| Feature | Free | Song Cage licence |
|---|---|---|
| Chord palette, voicings, modulation | Yes | Yes |
| Word Tools | Yes | Yes |
| Playback and accompaniment | Yes | Yes |
| Audio recording | Yes | Yes |
| Songs in the web app and on iPad | One | Unlimited |
| iPhone and Android capture apps | Yes | Yes |
| Native desktop app (macOS, Windows) | Yes | |
| AU/VST3 plugin for your DAW | Yes | |
| Song file export (.songcage.json) | Yes | Yes |
| PDF chord sheet export | Yes | |
| MIDI export | Yes | |
| Melody Ideas | Yes | |
| Phone captures in your Ideas Inbox | Yes | |
| Desktop app syncs with the web app | Yes | |
| View-only share links | Yes | Yes |
| Invite collaborators (up to 5 editors per song) | Yes | |
| Songs preserved (never deleted) | Yes | Yes |
Everything in the licence column comes with the one purchase, and with the 14-day trial while it runs.
That covers accounts, Free, and the licence. The next chapter is a reference for every keyboard shortcut in Song Cage, along with settings, input options, and workflow tips.